Crown takes aim at Hale’s character

Yvonne Leroux

(LINDSAY) Jurors in the Jack Hale murder trial heard from a former friend and the family lawyer who represented his estranged wife, Yvonne Leroux, giving them an a view into various financial issues Mr. Hale was dealing with in the months leading up to his wife’s death.
Mr. Hale stands accused of first degree murder and using a firearm in the commission of an indictable offence in the Sept. 2008 shooting death of Ms. Leroux at Riverwood Trailer Park near Lindsay.
Ed Noseworthy took the stand as a witness for the Crown Tuesday (Nov. 20), and told the jury he had worked with Mr. Hale at General Motors in Oshawa and had been friendly with him for about five years.
He testified that, for a time, Mr. Hale drove him to work, along with another man, Bruce Simpson. Court heard that when Mr. Simpson suffered some health problems, both Mr. Noseworthy and Mr. Hale became co-power of attorneys for their friend on Aug. 27, 2001, and Mr. Hale was given a bank card for Mr. Simpson’s accounts and authorized to use it on his behalf. Mr. Simpson later moved in with Mr. Hale, and Mr. Noseworthy testified that he visited him at the Hale residence once a week to check on him. During the time Mr. Simpson was staying with Mr. Hale, the latter married Ms Leroux.
A few years later, Mr. Simpson suffered a mini-stroke and was released from the hospital to a nursing home in Port Hope, where Mr. Noseworthy and Mr. Hale visited him several times.
Later in April of 2008, Mr. Noseworthy testified that Ms Leroux visited him to tell him that, without his knowledge, Mr. Hale had moved Mr. Simpson to a nursing home in Oshawa, where he had been since September.
“She thought Jack was taking his money and spending his money,” Mr. Noseworthy said, before defence lawyer Tom Balka objected.
“She said Jack was trying to get me out of the picture,” he added later.
A few days later, without letting on that he knew of Mr. Simpson’s current location, Mr. Noseworthy visited Mr. Hale, who did not reveal anything about the move, although he had mentioned that he had separated from his wife and told him that she had a new boyfriend and said he had a new girlfriend, but Mr. Noseworthy did not get any more details. Mr. Noseworthy then went to confirm first-hand that Mr. Simpson was in fact in Oshawa, and visited the nursing home, where he ran into Mr. Hale and his mother.
“He looked shocked when he saw me,” Mr. Noseworthy testified.
Court heard he refused to discuss the situation with Mr. Hale later that day and never heard from him again. But he did testify that he took Mr. Simpson to a lawyer on May 16, 2008 and Mr. hale’s role as power of attorney was revoked, a fact confirmed by an agreed statement shown to the jury earlier in the day.
Mr. Noseworthy also testified that he was involved, along with Mr. Simpson, in a transaction in which Mr. Simpson had agreed to sell Ms Leroux a bed, TV and treadmill after her separation. The items in question, were all still at Mr. Hale’s house.
Under cross-examination, Mr. Balka vigorously questioned the witness about why, in all the months between the summer of 2007 when Mr. Simpson was first moved to a nursing home in Port Hope and April 2008, when Ms Leroux visited him, did he not have any direct contact with Mr. Simpson. Mr. Noseworthy said he visited Mr. hale every week to get updates on their mutual friend and trusted him when he said Mr. Simpson was still in Port Hope waiting for a bed in Oshawa. He also admitted under questioning that he never mentioned to Mr. Hale that it was his estranged wife who told him that Mr. Simpson had been moved.
Crown attorney Rebecca Griffin also briefly brought an employee at a locksmith shop in Oshawa to the stand, to testify about two transactions, of what is believed to be several, high-security padlocks later found on the entrances to his home, with two bills totalling $672.94. Both purchases were made with Mr. Simpson’s debit card.
Ms Griffin moved on to explore issues of property in the separation of Mr. Hale and Ms Leroux when she brought Gail MacRae, the family law lawyer who represented Ms Leroux, with the help of Legal Aid, after the couple’s separation at the beginning of February 2008. She testified that Ms Leroux was seeking spousal support and equalization, which aims to ensure both parties leave a marriage with equal value. And while she said usually that does not include assets each partner had before they entered into the marriage, when it comes to the matrimonial home there is an exception, if the marriage lasted more than five years. Given that the couple was together for about seven years and married for just over five, the matrimonial home was included in equalization calculations.
After attempts at negotiation got no response from Mr. Hale, Ms MacRae testified she proceeded to file appropriate papers for an Uncontested Trial, which ultimately led to Ms Leroux being awarded an order to receive a monthly spousal support check of $93 and an equalization payment of $58,000 from family court Aug. 1, 2008. It was only at that point that Ms MacRae testified that she was contacted by a lawyer representing Mr. Hale, looking to have the court order set aside so negotiations could be started.
The lawyer sent back what was effectively a counter-offer, noting that while Ms Leroux would be willing to commence negotiations should certain criteria be met, but noted “This matter has dragged on for months due to your client’s conduct, for months,” and “I will not permit your client to control the matter further.”
The lawyer requested a response within five days. That was Sept. 10, 2008, and she never heard back. Ms Leroux was shot and killed eight days later.
Mr. Balka was absolutely relentless in his cross-examination of the fellow lawyer, asking her countless questions about discrepancies in court paperwork about Ms Leroux’s income, which Ms MacRae explained was constantly fluctuating.
As the lawyer’s testimony continued, the intensity of Mr. Balka’s questions only seemed to grow, with Ms Griffin firing off numerous objections, and the witness herself having to be reigned in by Justice Barry MacDougall and Mr. Balka for talking and trying to clarify through objections.
Mr. Balka implied impropriety in a legal document that stated Ms Leroux was living alone, when it was previously heard that she was renting a room from Dirk Arsenault, who would later become her boyfriend. Under law, Ms MacRae explained, they were not a common-law couple, as they had not been dating long and Ms Leroux was still technically just renting a room. Mr. Balka also came down hard on the witness when it came to the estimated value of Mr. Hale’s home on the paperwork, which was put at $300,000, but he pointed out was later sold at $168,000.
Ms MacRae acknowledged that there were some issues with some of the estimated numbers, but added, “That’s why it was important for Mr. hale to respond to the documents,” which he never did when provided with the papers, or until a court decision was actually reached.
The witness also took exception with Mr. Balka’s implication that by going to court, she was trying to illicit a reaction from Mr. Hale.
“It wasn’t a tactic, it was the next step in the procedure,” she responded.
The trial continues tomorrow.